Thursday, July 12, 2007

This article is a review of Derek Zumsteg's book, "The Cheater's Guide to Baseball." Zumsteg discusses some of the more famous incidents of cheating in baseball, such as the steroid scandal, the 1919 Black Sox , Pete Rose's betting, and the Twins experiment with the Metrodome ventilation system, getting air currents to blow out when the Twins were batting, and blowing in when the opposition was at bat. Also included are lesser known tactics, such as the Indians watering down the infield when they had a a ground-ball pitcher on the mound, so that opposition balls would die in the infield.

Zumsteg quotes various sources who estimate the number of games won as a result of their cheating.

-- Lou Boudreau said "I wouldn't be surprised if [Bossard's groundskeeping] helped us win as many as ten games a year."

-- Earl Weaver argues that groundskeeping increased the Orioles' batting average by "more than 30 points."

-- Zumsteg himself argues that exceptional grounds crews "might be worth a few games a year."

-- And George Steinbrenner argued that Earl Weaver gained "eight or ten games a year" through intimidation of umpires.

Zumsteg also includes a study that he claims proves when Barry Bonds was on steroids. Phil Birnbaum of Sabermetric Research, runs his own simulations which he claims disproves Zumsteg's argument.